Matthew Henry Commentary Romans 7:7-13

"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet: but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin [is] dead. And I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; and the commandment, which [was] unto life, this I found [to be] unto death: for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me. So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good. Did then that which is good become death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; --that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful." — Romans 7:7-13 (ASV)

There is no way of coming to that knowledge of sin, which is necessary for repentance and therefore for peace and pardon, except by testing our hearts and lives by the law. In his own case, the apostle would not have known the sinfulness of his thoughts, motives, and actions, except through the law. That perfect standard showed how wrong his heart and life were. It proved his sins to be more numerous than he had previously thought, yet it did not contain any provision of mercy or grace for his relief.

He who does not perceive in himself a readiness to imagine there is something desirable in what is out of reach is ignorant of human nature and the perversity of his own heart. We may perceive this in our children, though self-love makes us blind to it in ourselves. The more humble and spiritual any Christian is, the more clearly he will perceive that the apostle describes the true believer, from his first convictions of sin to his greatest progress in grace, during this present imperfect state.

St. Paul was once a Pharisee, ignorant of the spirituality of the law, having some correctness of character without knowing his inward depravity. When the commandment came to his conscience through the convictions of the Holy Spirit, and he saw what it demanded, he found his sinful mind rise against it. He felt at the same time the evil of sin and his own sinful state; he recognized that he was unable to fulfill the law and was like a criminal when condemned.

But though the evil principle in the human heart produces sinful impulses, and does so all the more by using the commandment as an opportunity, yet the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good. It is not favorable to sin, which it pursues into the heart, and uncovers and rebukes in its inward stirrings. There is nothing so good that a corrupt and vicious nature will not pervert it.

The same heat that softens wax, hardens clay. Food or medicine, when misused, may cause death, though its nature is to nourish or to heal. The law may cause death through human depravity, but sin is the poison that brings death. It was not the law, but sin uncovered by the law, that became death for the apostle.

The ruinous nature of sin, and the sinfulness of the human heart, are clearly shown here.